Flame treatment processes for various products in industrial manufacturing settings are known to the art. In particular, some types of materials including polymers benefit from being exposed to flame prior to receiving additional coatings including, for example, ultraviolet (UV) curable inks and other suitable coating materials that are applied using an inkjet printing system. The flame treatment process alters the surface of the polymer material to promote adhesion and spreading of the ink on the surface of the object. After an object has received the flame treatment in a specialized flame treatment system, the object later receives one or more additional material coatings in a separate coating system. For example, inkjet printing systems that are known to the art form printed ink images and coatings on the three-dimensional surfaces of different objects to provide monochrome and multi-color text and graphics, and transparent protective coatings to the objects.
While the benefits of flame treatment processes are generally known to the art, existing flame treatment systems cannot be used in many practical situations because these systems are specifically designed for large scale manufacturing in industrial settings. For example, one flame treatment system that is known to the art employs a robotic arm that passes a liquefied petroleum gas torch over various objects in a carefully controlled environment within an industrial-scale manufacturing process. These flame treatment systems can be effective in industrial settings for high-volume mass production of different items that receive flame treatments as part of a manufacturing process. However, the underlying technology that is used in the industrial scale manufacturing processes is also incompatible with newer “on-demand” manufacturing devices such as the inkjet printers that are used in small retail spaces and other environments that lack the infrastructure to support existing flame treatment systems. The existing flame treatment systems cannot be combined with these inkjet printers because the existing flame treatment systems consume large amounts of hydrocarbon fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas, propane, and natural gas. These systems are impractical for use with a self-contained inkjet printer. Consequently, improvements to flame treatment systems that are suitable for integration into inkjet printers would be beneficial.